Carlos Sainz believes his early season mistakes come from driving the 2022 Ferrari "outside of the box".
After an impressive first year in red in which he outscored teammate Charles Leclerc, the Spaniard has been disappointing so far this season with a number of errors over the first six races.
In Barcelona last weekend, Sainz had another moment, sliding off the track early in the race, and he would explain the difficulty he has faced in adapting to the different characteristics of the all-new cars for this year.
"It’s giving me a whole new challenge in my Formula 1 career, and I’m having to think outside of the box, drive outside of the box, and with this comes mistakes," he said.
Two almost identical slides at Turn 4 😮#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/JUribQ1dRo
— Formula 1 (@F1) May 22, 2022
"It comes from learning things that I’m having to learn, and I’m putting my head down to try and fight this and make it turn as soon as possible.
"I think you can see from the cameras and everywhere that I’m not there yet with the car compared to last year, that I’m not driving naturally, the car is a bit too pointy for my liking but that’s it, that’s the way it goes.
"You can either adapt yourself or can either bring your car a bit more to your liking.
"Anyway, these two things, they take time, and they take knowledge and experience, it takes mistakes, trial and error, and this is what I’m in the process of doing now and what I’m going to try and correct as soon as possible."
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Sainz realises time isn't on his side though, particularly given the performances Leclerc has shown.
"At the same time I have on my left a guy who is doing an excellent job like Charles is, with this car," he conceded.
"He’s driving at a very high level, he’s putting together super impressive lap times, an impressive way of driving, and I can only admire and try and in some ways copy and in others try and put it a bit more in my liking to be faster.
"Sometimes it goes like this and as a driver, you just need to go through a process and challenge yourself."
On a positive note, Sainz can still count on the support of Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto.
"Carlos is struggling a bit more but I don’t think he’s really struggling,” the Swiss told Sky Sports.
“He’s doing well and Charles is really driving very well and doing a fantastic season so far. He’s capable of running a very aggressive balance which maybe Carlos, at the moment, cannot.”
